


Gimme Shelter

by Lord_Byron_Mudkippington



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Cats, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-16
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21821536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lord_Byron_Mudkippington/pseuds/Lord_Byron_Mudkippington
Summary: Maki and Rin go to a pet store, where Maki finds a connection with an adoptable cat.
Relationships: Hoshizora Rin & Nishikino Maki
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24





	Gimme Shelter

Often, Maki had to question herself. Why did she agree to do certain things that were asked of her? She was a smart cookie, there was no denying that. Her test scores and the scholarships already pouring into her mailbox were proof enough. However, she seemed to be plagued with an incurable case of making friends with idiots, and allowing those idiots to pull her along into whatever random activity they wanted to do. One would think that she'd learn after allowing Honoka to take her on a particularly wild rollercoaster and promptly throwing up upon exiting the ride, but nope. That was why she was following Rin into their local pet store.

She wasn't a pet person. Her family had never owned one, and she had never felt a strong connection with any animals. Maybe the songbirds that warbled outside her window in the morning were alright, but she didn't want to have a bird in her house. That, however, made her an outlier among her friends. Honoka already owned a dog, while Rin was always so gung-ho about cats despite her allergies. Sometimes she just didn't understand her friends at all. Actually, she didn't understand them _ever_.

"C'mon Maki! Check this out!" Rin was vibrating with energy, doing her best not to run across the store. It was admirable, really, but what was there to get so excited about? She really didn't understand Rin's fascination with animals. They were such a hassle to take care of and clean up after. As someone who had difficulty taking care of herself already, she couldn't imagine trying to balance another living creature on top of that. The anxiety would destroy her from the inside out.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming. Hold your horses." Jeez, horses would be even worse... Sighing, she followed Rin to a corner of the store, where there were four living pens stacked together, two to a group. Each of them held a different cat, with their names and information written on a piece of paper attached to the glass. She stepped forward, peering at the felines, then at Rin. "Cats?"

"Yes! Aren't they adorable?!" Rin poked one of her fingers through the glass of a tabby named Yuri, who looked at her lazily. "Hey Yuri! You doing okay? You're looking so cute today!" Her high-pitched talk didn't seem to amuse the cat, who turned away and started licking its fur. "They're so cute, Maki!" She kept wiggling her finger, as if expecting it to react to her. It did not.

"I... suppose so." She could admit that cats were cute. On the rare occasion that she saw a stray cat roaming the sidewalks, the two of them would just stand there and stare at each other for a few seconds. In those seconds, it felt like they were connected in some way. However, that sounded really strange to her, and she'd never spoken such thoughts aloud. The teasing she was certain to get wouldn't be worth it.

"You just gonna stand there?" Scowling, Maki ignored Rin's teasing grin and walked over to stand next to her. She stared at the cat whose attention Rin had been trying to grab. It didn't seem to care about her either, curling up into a ball and shutting its eyes. Honestly, she couldn't blame it. If she was forced to stay in a glass box all day and have strangers call to her and try to pet her all day, she'd be so over it too. Then again, she was a sixteen year old girl, and she could call the police.

A quiet meow caught her attention. She looked down at the bottom left box, seeing a black cat looking up at her through the glass. Squatting down, she stared at the cat, who looked right back at her with its vibrant green eyes. It felt like those moment when she'd make eye contact with a random stray. There was something that made her feel like they were similar beings: quiet, aloof, _trapped_. 

"Try slowly blinking at her." Rin was giving her a genuine smile, though Maki still wondered if that was legitimate advice. Still, she had to admit that Rin knew so much more about animals than she did, so who was she to scoff at it? Turning back to the cat, she slowly closed her eyes, then opened them. It felt weird doing that, but she was surprised to see the cat close its eyes as well. "Aww, it likes you!" Rin gave her a thumbs up, grinning broadly.

"It does?" She wasn't sure how it closing its eyes meant it liked her, but she just shrugged it off. Looking up at the piece of paper on the glass, she saw that the cat's name was Garver. "What a strange name..." The cat meowed again, almost as if it had heard her questioning its name. "Uh, sorry. I didn't mean to criticize your name... Wait, why am I talking to a cat?"

"You're becoming a cat person already." Rin giggled, and Maki made sure to scowl extra-deeply at her. "Aren't you gonna pet him?" Oh, right... Sighing, Maki turned back to the glass and slowly put a finger through one of the holes near Garver. She was hesitant to press it against his fur, but when she did, she was surprised that he didn't immediately run off. Instead, he just laid down and let her pet him.

There was a certain comfort in just sitting there and petting a cat. She rubbed her finger against his fur until he shifted a bit, trying to butt his head against her finger. The reason wasn't clear until he lifted his head, letting her finger rest under his chin. She started rubbing there too, then scratching, which Garver seemed to like. At the very least, he wasn't trying to get away from her. That was an unusual occurrence: people were usually tripping over themselves to get away from her icy demeanor.

"I wonder how long these cats have been here..." She mused aloud, continuing to scratch at Garver's chin and cheeks. Rin, who had been watching with an extremely proud look, had decided to try and get Yuri's attention to no avail.

"Garver's been here about three months now." Maki looked behind her in surprise, not having realized someone else had approached them. Based on Rin's startled expression, she hadn't either. It was one of the employees, who had apparently decided to slip on over and see what was going on.

"Three months? That's a long time..." Rin frowned, seemingly concerned by a cat spending that much time there. Maki wasn't sure if that really _was_ a long amount of time. It didn't seem like it, but maybe it was for a cat. They didn't have as long of lifespans as humans did, so time would pass quicker for them. Was that not a normal amount of time for cats to be sheltered there, though?

"Unfortunately, black cats are usually the last cats to be adopted." The employee mirrored Rin's frown, looking over at Garver, who was now licking at his paw. "There's still a lot of suspicion over black cats because of their supposed connection with witches, and some people don't think they're very photogenic."

"Well that's just wrong!" Rin pouted, her hands curled into fists. She was clearly very passionate about this. As for Maki, she looked back at Garver, who seemed oblivious to the conversation at hand. She frowned slightly, lightly scratching his chin until she could feel him purr. Her eyes widened, having never heard such a sound before. She'd heard facsimiles of it, sure, but she'd never actually heard a cat purr before. It was... so calming. She could feel herself relaxing just from the sound.

"That's not fair..." She whispered to herself, really taking in what the employee had said. People were using completely bunk reasoning to not adopt black cats. It was... It was so unfair. She couldn't believe that people actually believed that something so beautiful was not photogenic. Were they taking pictures in the dark? Garver closed his eyes, opening his mouth to adorably yawn. "It's not fair..."

At that moment, she made a decision. Was it a good, well though out decision? Not in the slightest. Normally she would always take time to carefully plan out what she was going to do. This time, however, she was about to do something very impulsive. It was something she would expect Honoka or Rin to do, and she'd chide them for such a decision. The declaration was out of her mouth before she could stop herself, though.

"I want to adopt Garver." Rin's jaw dropped, as if she couldn't believe what words had just come out of Maki's mouth. To be fair, Maki could scarcely believe it either. She was almost convinced that someone else had said that, but there was no one else there. Only she could've said it, despite all truths to the contrary. 

"You... You do?" Rin blinked, then she dropped down to her knees and took Maki's cheeks in her hands, squishing them together. "Are you really Maki, or are you an alien impostor? Tell me something only the real Maki would know!"

"Rin, get off me!" Maki yelped and pushed Rin away, falling on her butt. "What's the big deal? I just want to adopt a cat. Is that so weird?" The way Rin was looking at her, it obviously _was_ so weird. Honestly, she was right, and Maki knew it. Now that she'd said she was going to do it, though, she couldn't back down. The embarrassment would be worse. "Look, it's not fair that black cats don't get adopted like other cats. He deserves a good home, and I'm going to give him one." She tried to appear more resolute than she felt, now that she realized what she was actually doing.

"Wow, that's... really sweet of you." Rin started to smile, surprising Maki when she pulled her into a hug. "I'm sure Garver's gonna be very happy living in your big, fancy mansion! Huh..." She scratched her chin in thought. "Living in a mansion, being fed and petted by a pretty girl... Will you adopt me too, Maki?"

"In your dreams." Maki blushed and pushed Rin away, standing up and brushing off nonexistent dust from her jeans. She then turned to the employee with a resolute expression. "I'm serious, though. I want to adopt Garver." She frowned slightly, twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. "I just, uh... need to ask my parents first." She had sort of forgotten about the whole 'having to get permission from her parents' thing. What a trip that would've been, coming home with a cat in her arms and trying to explain to her parents that she'd adopted him on a whim.

"Of course." The employee smiled, pulling a marker out of her pocket. "I'll write down that you're going to adopt him. Just please come back within the next forty-eight hours to confirm that you're going to be adopting him, and we can go over the paperwork and costs. If you haven't owned a cat before, I have some pamphlets that will help you get started."

"That would be great. Thank you." She followed the employee to the front desk with Rin in tow. Taking the pamphlets, she thanked the woman before turning to face Rin. That was when it hit her: Rin was allergic to cats. How had she forgotten about that when deciding on a whim to adopt a cat? "Oh, Rin, I'm sorry... I didn't even think about that you're allergic..."

"Don't worry about that, Maki! I'm proud of you for helping a cat in need!" Rin was beaming, not a trace of frustration evident. She really didn't care that Maki had made a decision without even considering her allergies. "You know I love cats, allergies be damned. I'll snort a line of Benadryl before coming over, and it'll be all gucci."

"Maybe just take the pill like a normal person." Maki rolled her eyes, but she found herself smiling. She had a feeling that anxiety was going to crush her the moment she got home and realized what she had done, but she wasn't going to go back on it. It really _wasn't_ fair that black cats didn't get the same love that other cats did, and she felt compelled in that moment to do something about it. Maybe she couldn't explain the connection she felt between herself and cats, but she felt like she might enjoy finding out. Besides, she wouldn't mind hearing more of that purring after a stressful school day.

"So..." Rin bounced on the balls of her feet, her smile steadily morphing into a cheeky grin. "Since you're getting a pet that I'm not supposed to go near, maybe I should adopt one that you're not a fan of."

"Uh, you don't have to do that..."

"How about a snake?"

"Absolutely not." Rin giggled, but Maki was not laughing. "You do not amuse me, Rin."

"Aww c'mon, I amuse you a _little_." Maki didn't even crack a smile. "Okay, how about a mouse?"

"Why would you want a mouse?"

"So I can feed it to my new snake."

"Rin, _no_."


End file.
